9 March 2019 

International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8 March every year and is a focal point in the movement of women’s rights.  This year’s campaign theme of #BalanceforBetter is a call-to-action for driving gender balance across the world. 

Athletics prides itself on being a gender balanced sport and our officials play a major part in achieving this, where currently there are 59% male and 41% female officials in the UK.  In support of International Women’s Day 2019, throughout March, we will feature Officials across the UK to celebrate them and their commitment to athletics.  

Amy Price 

What is your role as an official?
I am a level 4 field judge and I attend various competitions from grassroots through to elite and officiate. I take on different roles at each event including field judge, field referee and technical manager. My main responsibility, no matter which role I am in, is to enforce the rules and ensure that competitions are fair for all.

How long have you been officiating?
I have been qualified as an official for 5 years but also volunteered for two years prior to qualifying as I was too young to complete the qualification.

What inspired you to become an official?
I used to be an athlete and began officiating to pass the time in between competing. My dad is an official, so I began just helping him and I found that I really enjoyed it and wanted to progress further. Within Wales we have a number of great women officiating at some of the biggest competitions in Britain and seeing them on the TV and hearing about their experiences inspired me to see how far I could go with it.

What would you say to anyone wanting to get into officiating?
Officiating provides a great platform to attend the big events and work with the greatest athletes but is also a great CV booster as volunteering is always seen in a positive light. Also, don’t be afraid to get stuck in and be keen but always remember to take advice from more experienced officials as they’re almost always willing to help.

What has been the highlight of your officiating career?
Attending the 2017 World Championships in London as a field judge was an amazing experience that I will never forget so that is definitely high up the list. However, recently becoming one of the youngest level 4 judges in the country was also a very proud moment for me.

What can we do as a sport to achieve a #BetterBalance in officiating?
I think that officiating is generally quite evenly balanced between genders and I regularly see female officials in the ‘management’ roles at events so this is great to see.This is important as it provides role models for newer female officials to aspire to.

Find out more about International Women’s Day here. 

If you want to get involved in officiating, find out more information here.